Chavez: Survivor and Venezuela's long-serving president

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Photos:Photos: Chavez wins Venezuela election

Chavez wins Venezuela election – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez greets supporters after receiving news of his re-election in Caracas on Sunday, October 7. With 90% of the ballots counted, Chavez, who has been president since 1999, defeated Henrique Capriles Radonski with 54.42% of the votes, according to an National Electoral Council official. Photos: Venezuela's presidential vote

Chavez wins Venezuela election – Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski waves to supporters Sunday night in Caracas after learning of his defeat. During the campaign, he criticized the Chavez administration for inefficiencies, infrastructure shortcomings and corruption.

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Photos:Photos: Chavez wins Venezuela election

Chavez wins Venezuela election – Chavez greets a crowd before voting Sunday. The 58-year-old leader has been weakened by two surgeries for cancer, keeping secret the type of cancer and his prognosis. Photos: Venezuela's presidential vote

Story highlights

His legacy is one of "Latin American Robin Hood" and "shrewd autocrat"

He announced his re-election bid after declaring himself cancer-free in July

Chavez, at 44, was Venezuela's youngest person to be elected president in 1998

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is one of the leading leftist figures in Latin America and one of the United States' most vocal critics, aligning himself with former Cuban President Fidel Castro and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

With a win in Sunday's elections, the 58-year-old Chavez, who has been in power since 1999, will enter a fourth term in office and extend his presidency into 2019, or two full decades in power.

When first elected on December 6, 1998, in a landslide, Chavez was at age 44 the youngest person in the nation's history to become president.

Between June 2011 and May 2012, he underwent cancer treatment in Cuba, raising speculation about his political future and a possible successor when he named 10 people to his inner circle of advisers, known as the Council of State.

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Photos:Venezuela's presidential vote

Photos:Venezuela's presidential vote

Venezuela's presidential vote – Hugo Chavez embraces a Venezuelan flag after winning re-election Sunday, October 7. Chavez, who has been Venezuela's president since 1999, defeated Henrique Capriles Radonski. See more of CNN's best photography.

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Photos:Venezuela's presidential vote

Venezuela's presidential vote – Venezuelans line up Sunday to cast their votes at a polling station in Caracas.

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Photos:Venezuela's presidential vote

Venezuela's presidential vote – People wait to vote Sunday at a polling station in Caracas.

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Venezuela's presidential vote – A man has his finger ink-stained after voting Sunday in Venezuela's capital.

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Photos:Venezuela's presidential vote

Venezuela's presidential vote – Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski shows his finger after voting Sunday in Caracas. With 90% of the ballots counted Sunday night, Chavez won 54.42% of the vote, compared with 44.97% for Capriles, according a National Electoral Council official.

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Photos:Venezuela's presidential vote

Venezuela's presidential vote – Chavez supporters hold photos of Simon Bolivar, who led Venezuela's fight for independence from Spain in the 1820s, during Chavez's campaign wrap-up rally in Caracas on Thursday, October 4.

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Photos:Venezuela's presidential vote

Venezuela's presidential vote – Chavez delivers a speeech in the rain during his on Thursday. Venezuelans head to the polls on Sunday, October 7.

Venezuela's presidential vote – A supporter of the opposition candidate, Capriles, screams during a campaign rally in Maracaibo.

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Venezuela's presidential vote – Chavez waves to supporters during a campaign rally in Barquisimeto on Tuesday, October 2.

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Venezuela's presidential vote – Capriles wears a native decoration from a shaman during a campaign rally in Puerto Ayacucho on Monday, October 1. Chavez's opponents are confident that on Sunday, Capriles will unseat the long-ruling leftist leader, a refrain previously heard before eventual defeats.

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Photos:Venezuela's presidential vote

Venezuela's presidential vote – Chavez greets supporters during a campaign rally in Sabaneta on Monday. He dismissed his much younger challenger as a "fly" not worth chasing when challenged to a debate this year.

Venezuela's presidential vote – "Venezuelans are looking for a new way," Capriles told his supporters. "It's been 14 years of the same government. This government has already completed its cycle and has nothing more to offer. They're only recycling promises."

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Venezuela's presidential vote – Supporters of Venezuela's current president cheer during a campaign rally in Barquisimeto on Tuesday.

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Venezuela's presidential vote – Presumably because of his health, Chavez has not held as many rallies or traveled as often as he has in previous campaigns. His re-election effort has been mostly through presidential addresses that state-run television stations are mandated to carry.

His socialist agenda has also overseen the nationalization of property and firms in numerous industries, such as finance, agribusiness, construction, oil, steel and gold.

Chavez himself came from a modest background -- born the son of schoolteachers on July 28, 1954 in Sabaneta, a city in Venezuela's Barinas state. From a young age he was influenced by Simon Bolivar, the Venezuelan soldier and politician who led the Latin American independence movement against Spain during the early 19th century. Chavez would style himself in the Bolivar mold, dubbing his own revolution "Chavismo."

His legacy will be one of both "self-styled Latin American Robin Hood" and "shrewd autocrat using and abusing his country's oil riches to stay in power," CNN's Paula Newton wrote.

According to the World Bank, oil accounts for more than 30% of Venezuela's gross domestic product, 90% of its exports and 50% of fiscal income.

Chavez's political and professional ascent was a colorful one. An avid baseball player, he had once dreamed of a baseball career but joined the army after graduating from the Military Academy of Venezuela in Caracas in 1975.

Amid festering social tensions in 1992, Chavez, by then a lieutenant colonel, led an unsuccessful coup against President Carlos Andres Perez for which he was imprisoned for two years.

Upon his release by the new President Rafael Caldera Rodriguez, Chavez formed the opposition Fifth Republic Movement, a vehicle for him to criticize government corruption and the two-party system. He cast himself as the anti-establishment figure, vowing to dissolve Congress and redistribute the nation's oil wealth.

Voters responded, catapulting him to the presidency.

After being sworn into office in February 1999, his government created a new constitution that required a "mega-election" in 2000 for every elected official.

It was under this new constitution that Chavez was reelected to a six-year presidency in 2000.

But within two years, he faced major setbacks as opposition to his social agenda grew, culminating in massive protests and a coup in 2002. Although the military had been behind Chavez's removal, his replacement, Pedro Carmona, would dissolve the National Assembly and suspend the constitution, leading the military to force Carmona himself to resign. In a series of musical chairs, Chavez's vice president, Diosdado Cabello, was sworn in as president, after which he immediately restored Chavez to power. These events took place over four days.

Another showdown came in the form of a presidential recall referendum in 2004. Chavez survived that one too.

Chavez, known for marathon speeches, has long been a critic of the United States. He was a particularly vocal opponent of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks and of the Iraq war. In 2006, he rebuked then-President George W. Bush in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly, stating, "The devil came here yesterday, and it smells of sulfur still today."

He has also speculated that Washington was behind the cancer that afflicted five Latin American presidents, including himself, in recent years.

By the end of 2006, Chavez would be re-elected to his third term, with a little less than two-thirds of the vote.

His term would see the passage of more constitutional changes, including indefinite re-election, as well as the stifling of political dissent, such as the closure of opposition radio stations and moves against private broadcaster Globovision.

He would also strengthen relations with Iran -- a country he has visited nine times and with which Venezuela has signed more than 270 accords. Of the four nations on Ahmadinejad's Latin American tour earlier this year, Venezuela was the first.